Oakland Embarcadero Bridge Bike Detour Starts May 13

Starting in May 2016, Oakland’s Embarcadero Bridge will be closed between 5th Ave and Oak Street, restricting travel along this popular bike corridor. The closure will remain for two years while the city removes the existing bridge and constructs a replacement, including continuous bike lanes on both sides and a multi-use path. Once the new bridge is completed Embarcadero will also be repaved and striped with buffered bike lanes.

In the meantime, however, a bicycle detour will be installed including both signage and new, buffered bike lanes on 7th Street (5th Ave to Fallon) and Oak Street (2nd Street to 5th Street). The map below illustrates the official detour route (wide lines), as well as other nearby bicycle facilities (thin lines).

Green = bicycle lane (existing or installed before bridge closure)

Red = shared bicycle/car lane (sharrows)

Purple = off-street bicycle/pedestrian path

Yellow = bicycle lanes to be installed in 2016

The signs and bike lanes will all be in place by the time the bridge closure occurs. Additional bikeway and paving work happening in 2016 will add even more connections:

Those who prefer not to follow the official, on-street detour may choose to use the Lake Merritt Channel bike/pedestrian path which connects from 7th Street under the freeway to 4th Street, also shown on the map above. However, the path under the 7th Street bridge is prone to flooding and trash dumping, and is not the most reliable route.